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163
Album Review

Mike Holober: Wish List

Read "Wish List" reviewed by Michael P. Gladstone


Wish List is pianist/composer/bandleader Mike Holober's third album, in addition to appearances in the piano chair for the Pete McGuiness Jazz Orchestra, the Jason Rigby Quartet, the Pete McCann Quintet and the Anita Brown Jazz Orchestra. Holober is a New York-based pianist who previously had worked with Nick Brignola's group and whose style has been influenced by such modal pianists as Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock.His first album, Canyon (Sons of Sound, 2003), was produced by another modal ...

320
Album Review

Mike Holober: Wish List

Read "Wish List" reviewed by David Miller


The great thing about jazz is that you may think you know a lot about a lot, but in reality you don't know jack. It seems every time I pop in a new record, I learn about a new artist I've never heard before. In listening to Mike Holober's Wish List, I was lucky enough to learn about three: Holober, Tim Ries, and Wolfgang Muthspiel. Wish List is simple enough. It's a straight-ahead recording, with a track ...

139
Album Review

Bob Sneider & Paul Hofman: Escapade

Read "Escapade" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza


Bob Sneider and Paul Hofmann called their first collaborative effort “Interconnection," and that was an apt name, for the two showed that they had an affinity that resulted in some darned fine music. Though their second collaboration finds them concentrating on original material, they also look at standards, including a Nat Cole medley, and even add a twist of jazz to a classical tune.

Given their familiarity with each other, it is not surprising that the recording offers a cohesive ...

171
Album Review

Bob Sneider and Paul Hofmann: Escapade

Read "Escapade" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


The history of duo recordings boasts some standout pairings: Bill Evans and Jim Hall, Nat “King" Cole and Oscar Moore, Chick Corea and Gary Burton, Stan Getz and Kenny Brown. Guitarist Bob Sneider and pianist Paul Hofmann approach the duo format with masterful technique and imagination on Escapade, a followup to Interconnection (Sons of Sound, '04).Sneider is a two-time winner of Down Beat's Outstanding Performance in Jazz Award and has performed with Chuck Mangione, Nat Adderley and Jon ...

567
Album Review

Fred Wesley & The Swing 'N Jazz All-Stars: It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing

Read "It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing" reviewed by Suzanne Lorge


Charity golf tournaments raise millions--sometimes billions--in the name of giving back. Trombonist Fred Wesley uses a different kind of swing to make his contribution: His recent release as bandleader, It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing, benefits The Commission Project (TCP), a nonprofit that supports various music education projects around the U.S. Wesley isn't alone in his humanitarianism; the CD spotlights the unique talents of eight other jazz masters--collectively, The Swing N' Jazz All-Stars--in an assortment ...

201
Album Review

Bob Sneider and Joe Locke Film Noir Project: Fallen Angel

Read "Fallen Angel" reviewed by Robert R. Calder


Very, very nice this one is, the absence of an overall noir atmosphere no cause for complaint. The project, under the leadership of Bob Sneider and Joe Locke, looks at the scores of cinematic works of the film noir genre, simply for material worth performing. Maybe somebody thought the genre might have occasioned unusual inspiration and produced themes of substantial jazz potential. Speculate if you like, and admire the considerable inventiveness of the arrangements.

There's something in the initial material. ...

200
Album Review

Anthony Branker & Ascent: Spirit Songs

Read "Spirit Songs" reviewed by Ken Franckling


Primarily working outside of the major league jazz spotlight, but not far from it by any means, Anthony Branker is crafting some of today's finest compositions--and has assembled the sextet Ascent to bring them to musical life. Spirit Songs consists of tunes Branker has written since 1997, performed by a rather formidable unit: saxophonists Antonio Hart and Ralph Bowen, trombonist Clifford Adams, pianist Jonny King, bassist John Benitez and drummer Ralph Peterson. Branker heads the Jazz Studies ...

215
Album Review

The Bob Sneider & Joe Locke Film Noir Project: Fallen Angel

Read "Fallen Angel" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza


The dark, haunting world of film noir has returned to thrill viewers in a spate of releases on DVD in recent months. This Film Noir Project transposes that spell to music, capturing the essence of the themes that enhance the thrill of watching the films. Music, even in its darkest ambit, can be elevating. Bob Sneider and Joe Locke not only take soundtracks from classic movies, they also add some from films that fell flat on their face. But they ...

334
Album Review

The Bob Sneider and Joe Locke Film Noir Project: Fallen Angel

Read "Fallen Angel" reviewed by Dr. Judith Schlesinger


This music is as subtle and nuanced as the shadows in an old black-and-white movie. Like the film noir that inspired it, Fallen Angel is romantic and jaded, beautiful and cynical, and full of longing and disappointment, all at the same time. The material is excellent: vibraphonist Joe Locke's “Fallen Angel" and pianist Paul Hofmann's “Last Kiss" blend seamlessly into the mood, while the arrangements ensure that the dark, velvety spell continues, regardless of tempo. There isn't a jarring note ...

310
Album Review

Anthony Branker & Ascent: Spirit Songs

Read "Spirit Songs" reviewed by Robert R. Calder


This star of Spirit Song is Ralph Peterson, not on the trumpet he occasionally plays, but as a drummer who's as much in the front line as any hornman on the date, needing and finding as much inspiration and as many ideas as any horn soloist. Often he plays pretty well in duet with each of the soloists, but not intrusively. He knows what to do. Where a lesser percussionist would need to lay out, he can fit in beautifully ...


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